ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effects of simulated weightlessness on eNOS expression in the pulmonary artery in rat, and to investigate the mechanism of changed reactivity of pulmonary artery during simulated weightlessness. Methods The experiments were conducted in 16 male Wistar rats, and they were divided into 2 groups: suspension group and control group, 8 rats for each. Tail-suspension (-30?) was carried out for 14d to simulate weightlessness. eNOS protein expression and NO content in pulmonary artery were determined using Western blot analysis and nitrate enzyme-reduction method, respectively. Results Compared with control group, eNOS expression in the rat pulmonary artery increased significantly during simulated weigtlessness. The relative optical density as a result of scanning was 247?2.60, and that of the control was 141?1.72. There were significant differences between the two groups (P
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of dexamethasone on prevention of apoptosis in pulmonary tissues of rats after simulated weightlessness. Methods Tail suspension was used to simulate weightlessness. Thirty Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided randomly into 3 groups: control group, tail suspension for 7 days group, and dexamethasone treatment after suspension group. TUNEL technique was used to detect cell apoptosis in pulmonary tissues. Results The rate of apoptotic cells in the lung of rats suspended for 7 day was higher than that of control group(P
